Several sentences were handed down and pleas heard during Monday's session of Belmont County Common Pleas Court. Judge Frank Fregiato presided. Randy M. Aumend, 57, 365 High St., Flushing, was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 18 months for failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, a felony of the fourth degree occurring Jan. 10, 2015. His driver's license was also suspended for five years.
Fregiato related the facts of the case, noting that although a felony of the fourth degree carried no presumption for prison, the context of the crime demanded punishment, and measures to protect the public, as well as a need for rehabilitation. On the day of the crime, Aumend had been eastbound on Ohio 331 and had ignored a state trooper's order to stop. This resulted in striking the trooper, then traveling onward to hit another car head-on.
"I think we're extremely lucky we don't have a dead officer," Fregiato said. He also noted Aumend's six prior DUI convictions.